Just like last year, Sony will not be making an appearance on stage at the E3 gaming conference in 2020. Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, the company has revealed that instead of attending the massive event, it will be focusing on smaller consumer events to showcase its upcoming games.
"After thorough evaluation SIE has decided not to participate in E3 2020," explained Sony. "We have great respect for the ESA as an organization, but we do not feel the vision of E3 2020 is the right venue for what we are focused on this year."
This means that the highly anticipated unveiling of the PlayStation 5 won"t be happening at E3, a first for the console series. Sony might even opt for a purely online announcement, or maybe pull an Xbox Series X - which appeared during The Game Awards - and piggyback on another event. Sony went on to say the following regarding its events strategy for 2020:
We will build upon our global events strategy in 2020 by participating in hundreds of consumer events across the globe. Our focus is on making sure fans feel part of the PlayStation family and have access to play their favorite content. We have a fantastic line up of titles coming to PlayStation 4, and with the upcoming launch of PlayStation 5, we are truly looking forward to a year of celebration with our fans.
The Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the organization behind E3, also released a statement regarding this move, saying that even with Sony"s absence, the 2020 event will be "an exciting, high-energy show featuring new experiences, partners, exhibitor spaces, activations, and programming that will entertain new and veteran attendees alike."
Meanwhile, Microsoft will once again show up at E3 this year to showcase its Xbox games, hardware, and services. The Head of Xbox Phil Spencer confirmed the company"s attendance to the 2020 event via Twitter shortly after the Sony report:
Our team is hard at work on E3, we look forward to sharing with all who love to play what"s ahead for us. Our artform has consistently been propelled by the cross-section of creativity and technical progress. 2020 is a milestone year in that journey for Team Xbox. #XboxE3 #E32020
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) January 14, 2020
E3 2020 will be kicking off on June 9 and continue until June 11. As for the new consoles, the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X are slated for release in holiday 2020, both arriving with major upgrades to their internals over the current consoles, along with new controllers, and of course, next-gen games.